Did you switch between languages or is the whole German part considered as example? Please use ">" to designated text as example and translate those parts that are not examples to English (or everything else to German).
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Em1Jul 18 '13 at 7:15

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@chirlu: we want people to find the answer on German Language & Usage when searching via Google (on position 5 here). A comment with an external link is not a vaild answer very much like a link-only answer will not be valid too. We would like to encourage people to not only make up a link collection here but also write good answers. These may also include excerpts quoted from an external source.
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Takkat♦Jul 18 '13 at 9:22

3 Answers
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A language is always changing. New words come, old words go. So it is not a question of what a new word contributes … just like in fashion.

I modified your n-gram to include letzten Endes. The result is very interesting. You can see an even faster rise of letzten Endes followed by a steady decline. Letztendlich is just hip at the moment. Maybe because it is shorter. Maybe because it has no Genetive. Maybe because it spares people the second of doubt as to whether to write it with a capital or not.
However, chances are that letztendlich will have its peak someday and then a new star will be born.

At first I though it could be letztlich … but no … Google n-gram shows that it has overstayed its welcome already. But effektiv is to be watched out for ;)

I don't like the idea of schlußendlich being an innovation in any sense. You are right, though, in that my question implies new words need additional meaning to become popular. Unfortunately, they don´t.
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TheBlastOneJul 29 '13 at 13:09

Disagree. Translation would be "Dieses Buch (das Du für Deine Prüfung lesen musst) hat 500 Seiten, aber von diesen 500 Seiten ist nur diese eine wirklich relevant." No need for "letztendlich". And your SQL assumption is also false: If any of those conditions has side-effects, the result might be different from computing only CONDITION 6 as opposed to computing them all. (SQL does not do short-circuit evaluation of Boolean terms.)
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TheBlastOneJul 22 '13 at 6:58

"Letztendlich" of course can be used as a simple and meaningless filler. But it also can express the wish to bring an end to a long discussion as being "the final conclusion" and rendering everything said before less important.